


~When Phantom Meets Once Prince of Pancakes (and Crime)~

by 1InSaNeAnGeL



Series: ~A Phantom's Future, Always Different~ [3]
Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cute Kids, M/M, Original Character(s), Post-Persona 5: The Royal, Some characters Mentioned but not Seen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27630476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1InSaNeAnGeL/pseuds/1InSaNeAnGeL
Summary: ~One Kurusu Akira/Amamiya Ren/Persona 5 Protagonist's life with different spouses, different outlooks and different futures.~
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: ~A Phantom's Future, Always Different~ [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979995
Kudos: 16





	~When Phantom Meets Once Prince of Pancakes (and Crime)~

“Happy Father’s Day, Dad!”

Akira blinked, eyes wide in surprise before he was grinning from ear-to-ear. “Oh guys, you didn’t have to do this…!” He exclaimed as he was soon directed to take a seat at the dining table by his seventeen-year-old son. Meanwhile his daughter of the same age, as the brother and sister were twins, ducked into the kitchen to fetch the rest of the gifts they have been hiding away for the last two weeks.

His teenage son by the name of Kurusu Aigami shook his head, this small action causing several locks of shaggy, shiny and sweet-smelling caramel brown hair to escape the white hairband keeping his shoulder-length mane under control. His eyes were a rich reddish-brown, resembling chocolate dipped strawberries or cherry-colored wine against a tawny, moonless sky. “Nonsense, it’s your special day. We couldn’t allow it to pass without some semblance of a celebration!” Aigami chuckled and kissed his dad’s forehead, already having helped Akira out of his jacket and shoes.

“I thought my special day was a month ago.”

“That was Mother’s Day,” Kurusu Kagami argued lightly, her cream-colored cheeks now a faint peach. “This is our Father’s Day celebration! You deserve both days, as you’ve taken on both roles for the last seventeen years.”

“Let us spoil you, as you’ve spoiled us.” Aigami added, sharing a grin with his twin sister as she presented their father with a huge, and it was huge, and colorful tray of cupcakes. The hues of red ranged from apple to berry to jam, either chocolate or vanilla, and decorated with red, white, and purple sprinkles. The cupcakes looked moist and fluffy even from the outside; Kagami then presented Akira with a card in a red envelope, the front decorated with purple and white hearts.

“I’m not as creative as Rose,” the ravenette began, letting out a shy giggle. “But she really did come through for us with the card, helped us pick it out and everything.”

“The cupcakes are all Kagami though. She kicked me out of the kitchen because she wanted to get them exactly right, I wasn’t even allowed to get some tea.” Aigami teased his sister with playful delight, blowing her a quick kiss.

Kagami gently shoved Aigami aside, her face now a tomato at this point. “I let him get tea afterwards, Dad. I even let Ai be my taste tester because of how much I trust him.”

“Trust me not to kill over or trust me not to tell Dad if you accidentally poisoned me?”

“You two are too much sometimes,” Akira laughed through watery eyes, drawing his son and daughter close to press kisses to their noses and cheeks. “To do this all for me…! Thank you, really thank you so much.”

“Read your card, Dad.” Kagami encouraged, hands clapped to her chest as Aigami served Akira one of the cupcakes.

“Let me get you a glass of milk,” he said, turning on his heel with the grace of a ballet dancer. “You usually like to eat chocolate cupcakes with some milk. Oh, and I have to get the camera! This one’s for the album for sure.”

“I almost forgot, thanks Ai!” Kagami looked relieved, leaning forward slightly to read over her dad’s shoulder once he pulled the card out of the envelope.

_ You have no idea how much you really do. You have no idea what you truly mean to us. You have no idea how your smile makes us smile, how your laugh makes us laugh, and how every day we’re thankful to have a father like you. We know this isn’t much but we hope it still gets across the one thing that will never change: we love you, Dad. Even if the sun forgets to shine, even if the moon falls and the world grows dark; you will be the gravity that keeps us standing, the light that guides our way and the voice of reason we’ll always know. We are who we are because of you, and that’s the best thing we could ever ask for. _

_ Always yours, Happy Father’s Day! _

_ -Ai and Mi. _

Akira had to take off his glasses as the waterworks finally broke free, gunmetal gray eyes glistening like murky pools.

“Do you like it?” Aigami mused softly, having returned with his dad’s glass and the camera. Both he and Kagami were smiling, all hopeful and sweet and adorable.

It didn’t matter that they weren’t little kids anymore, they will always be Akira’s babies. The greatest things to ever happen to him, now and forever.

Every stumble, every fall, every moment of doubt has led to them, and Kurusu Akira wouldn’t change a single, damn thing.

Changing one element could mean an entirely different outcome; some people might pine for a redo, but if that led to Kagami and Aigami being someone else’s children or that Akira couldn’t be with them in general...worth it. Worth leaving the past as it is. Nothing and no one was worth losing these two over.

“I love it.” Akira whispered, as if afraid to shatter the magical moment. “I love it very much, now come back here you two!”

“Dad!” The twins exclaimed in unison as they were soon bombarded with a second wave of hugs and kisses. Kagami squealed and tried to shield Aigami’s face to no avail, her brother’s cheeks on fire as he tried to pull her close and “protect” her from the all-out attack.

“Ai, try to escape!”

“I can’t, he’s too strong!”

Akira didn’t comment, laughing too hard and without a care in the world. When all three managed to calm down, Aigami and Kagami each took a cupcake and began to dig in; the harmony of content hums signaled the sweets were a success.

“I want to marry this cupcake,” Aigami swore, his lips coated in white sprinkles. Kagami rolled her eyes; her brother, the more dramatic of the two.

“They’re not that good for us to demand a complete rewrite of Japanese marriage laws, Big Brother.”

“I politely disagree with your statement, Sweet Sister.”

“I do too,” Akira took his son’s side on this, his cheeks almost the same shade of red as the frosting of his second cupcake. “You make the best treats, Ami. I can’t even bake one cupcake let alone a dozen; they’re made with the best ingredients!”

“You mean milk, eggs, and flour?”

“And love, don’t forget love.”

Kagami whined and tried to hide her flustered expression behind her hands. “You two are embarrassing!”

“Runs in the Kurusu bloodline, you two were doomed before you were even born.”

Kagami and Aigami both made a face before all three were laughing once again, further indulging themselves on frosting and milk.

It was a simple, small celebration but it was just perfect for them.

* * *

“How about I cut your hair, Mi-chan?” Aigami asked with a tiny smile, after hearing his twin sister, once again, growl when her elegant sea of black hair fell over her eyes.

Kagami thought her red headband would be enough to control the curly mess only for the afternoon breeze to prove her wrong. “I hate having long hair,” she mumbled, using both dainty, thin hands to gather it all up once again.

“Which is why I’m offering to give you a trim. I’m pretty good at it,” Aigami tugged lightly at a lock of his own hair, shoulder-length and sweet-smelling and out of its usual low side ponytail, for further emphasis. “I promise I won’t take too much off the top.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Ai,” Kagami was quick to reassure, sitting down next to Aigami on the back porch. She wrapped her arms around her twin’s shoulders and kissed his cheek. “I just don’t know if I can pull off short hair like Dad and you. Do you know any girls at school who have short hair?”

“Plenty; granted, none are as beautiful as you,” Aigami pointed out, tapping the ravenette’s nose, “But I think you can do it. You have the face for it, the head shape. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Kagami’s smile returned. “I know, as I wouldn’t lie to you...so let’s do it.”

“Certain?”

“Absolutely!”

The Kurusu twins spent the next fifteen minutes setting up their own salon on the back porch, the weather just perfect: clear blue sky, the grass growing around the pond a vibrant green. The sun was blazing but luckily the back porch had some serious shade with the carefully arranged, dark pink umbrellas they and their dad used whenever they ate outside. Kurusu Aigami, the oldest of the twins by five minutes, fetched one of the dark pink lounge chairs for Kagami to sit in and one of the chairs from the dining table inside for himself. Kurusu Kagami emerged from inside like a flower in bloom, out of her usual red jumper dress, white tights and black boots. She was instead wearing one of Aigami’s old shirts and her favorite pair of gray shorts, opting to go barefoot as well because why not?

“You’re lovely with and without makeup, you know this correct?” Aigami mused, chuckling when the ravenette looked away embarrassed.

“You’re my brother,” Kagami argued, “You’re supposed to say that.”

“Even if I wasn’t my opinion of you wouldn’t change in the slightest, Ami. You are beautiful. Now come on, take a seat.”

Kagami rolled her eyes when Aigami playfully patted the thick cushion of the lounge chair, folding her legs under her. The older twin was using one of their dad’s tablecloths as a hairdresser’s cape, recently washed and an olive green. “Here we go…” Using two safety pins, Aigami fastened the makeshift cape over Kagami’s shoulders, after wrapping a sanex neck strip (again makeshift, as it was a piece of paper towel) around his sister’s swan neck. “There, you’re ready. Now give me an idea: how short? This,” Aigami pressed two fingers together and thread Kagami’s soft, pearl black hair until his hand stopped mid-way up her shoulder.

Kagami chewed on the inside of her cheek, then shook her head. “Shorter.”

“Okay,” Aigami moved his hand again. “Here?” Now it rested on top of her shoulder, his tawny-cherry eyes shining in amusement.

“...Shorter. I, I want a bob.” Kagami decided finally, this alarming her twin brother greatly.

Kagami’s hair was waist-length, threatening to grow past that if left wild any longer. That was a lot of hair, an immense change. She hasn’t gone that short before ever, and Aigami would know as they were always together.

“You sure, Ami? That’s quite the cut.”

“I trust you, Big Brother. And Honestly I’ve always wanted short hair, just afraid to try it. Dad’s not home, if he asks it was all my idea. Please?” Kagami let her lips fall in a pout, blinking her wide, wide eyes at Aigami.

Aigami couldn’t help turning red once again. His sister’s eyes, how he envied them. The younger of the Kurusu twins was born with sectoral heterochromia iridum, a rather rare eye condition in Akira’s bloodline. Her left eye was the infamous gunmetal gray, a staple in the Kurusu bloodline apparently, while her right eye was divided right down the middle: gunmetal and cherry-tawny forever kept apart, the sight giving Kagami an extra layer of exoticness because of how it stood out. While Aigami’s eyes were piercing, smoldering, Kagami’s were bright and sometimes unnerving especially in low lighting. Some saw it as a beauty mark, others wondered if it indicated a serious medical issue later down the line.

And Kagami was very, very, very self-conscious about her eyes, oftentimes purposely letting her hair run wild in a poor attempt to conceal them.

‘Those who think it’s unnerving, idiots; all of them are idiots. Your eyes are lovely, Sweet Sister.’

“Very well then,” Aigami decided to obey his sister’s request, giving her a soft peck on the forehead before picking up the scissors their dad normally used to cut out coupons. “I will do my best, I promise. If I trim a little too much, you have my permission to shave my head. And I will buy you the biggest Ume bouquet I can find at the flower shop along with ice cream; my treat.”

“Heehee, you’re a dork.” Kagami waved her twin’s compromises aside, seeming unconcerned about him “messing up”. Aigami had steady hands and, apart from cooking that is, excelled in everything he set his mind to. She trusted him to do his very best; plus, if things did go south she can always wear one of her scarves or hats.

An excuse to be extra snuggly during the winter, refreshed in the summer.

“Close your eyes. I want to make it a surprise,” Aigami whispered, taking a handful of Kagami’s hair. He took a deep breath, looked down at his sister before starting to snip away.

* * *

“W...who are you?” Kurusu Kagami managed to choke out, stepping a little out from behind Aigami. She kept their fingers locked just in case, her eyes searching the older man’s face.

“...” The man let out a soft sigh before lifting his head to meet the young girl’s eyes.

Warm, cream-colored skin with a dash of syrup, shaggy shoulder-length brown hair and reddish-brown eyes. Hands protected by black leather gloves, pressed black slacks and shoes polished to a shine with a beige trench coat over a plain, black shirt. He had been looking down at the man he had knocked out from behind, the rest of his ilk having deserted the alleyway with their tails between their legs. After seeing their leader go down like a stack of bricks, the desire to sexually assault the female of the twins had vanished. The surprise attack coupled with a sadistic, angry smirk upon the mysterious man’s lips drove fear of the devil itself into their hearts.

Good. They’re lucky he’s capping his bloodlust. If they had succeeded in laying a hand on Kagami, laying a hand on both her and Aigami the streets would be bathed in carmine. The streets, the trash cans with their bent lids, and everything else in between.

‘I’ll locate them later,’ The man thought with twisted glee. His eyes softened however when Aigami broke his train of thought with another question; he delivered it with urgency, unlike Kagami’s more passive request.

“What strange man goes out of his way to protect two bratty teenagers?” Aigami failed to keep the edge out of his tone, standing between the man and his sister. His eyes, eerily matched those of the man before them, were in slits.

“Why would two bratty teenagers use the alleyway as a shortcut home? Haven’t you been taught to stick to crowded places, for safety purposes?” The man answered Aigami’s question with one of his own, smirking.

Aigami made a face. “No answers, very suspicious don’t you think? Your clothes aren’t outlandish either, suggesting you want to blend in. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself, but you ended up forsaking that protection the moment you chose to step in and help us.”

“It was an unfair match, two against five.”

“Something tells me you don’t care about unfair matches; if you were one of the assailants, you’d just try to overpower us then and there.” Aigami snapped back, Kagami swallowing hard.

“Ai, he helped us,” she stressed, squeezing his hand in hers. “We shouldn’t antagonize him.”

“Forgive me if I’m very overprotective of my precious Ume,” Aigami replied through gritted teeth, not once looking away from the shaggy-haired man. “They’re lucky I didn’t have my switchblade on me, this man should know not to test me.”

“You carry a switchblade on your person.”

“For safety purposes,” Aigami parroted the man’s words from earlier, smirking himself. “And forgive me for judging so prematurely, but some adults are only interested in using the young, while they simply do as the adults say.”

That line...so Akira has told them about him.

And the boy knew how he was using this line; he knew the strength behind it, the dirty reality within these few simple words.

He trusted no one apart from those very close to him, and he trusted no one with his treasure.

His sister, and he was her treasure. Two sides of the same coin, cannot be without the other.

Kagami and Aigami; “Mirror” and “Indigo god”, together they are the Mirror of the Indigo God. Kagami was aggressive but had better control over her temper, Aigami burning with rage but capable of soothing even the most savage of beasts. Kagami resembled Akira to a T, and the difference in her eyes took Akechi’s breath away.

Goro, the difference in her eyes took Goro’s breath away. And how Aigami could look so much like him, despite none of his blood, thankfully, running through the boy’s veins...yet another sign that Kurusu Akira was Goro’s and Goro’s alone.

His own stupidity drove him away, as much as he despised to admit so. His own fear of being loved so by the likes of a scarred but pure heart drove him away; drove a wedge between him and his Akira, and the precious lives they made together.

Surrogate be damned, these children were his and Akira’s. No one else’s.

“Your attitude, your sheer rebellion; you are your dad’s son.”

“You know our dad?” Kagami’s tone was colored with curiosity now, ignoring Aigami’s scoff of protest as she stepped out from behind him and walked towards the man in the beige coat. “How? We know all of his friends, every aunt and uncle has been accounted for. You’re not a woman either, so you can’t be Amaya-sama or Tae-san. Then who are you?”

“Kagami, don’t get any closer to him.” Aigami warned, wincing a bit. “Dad told us not to talk to strangers. We should get home before he worries.”

“Your dad, how has he been?” Of course Goro knew the answer, as he’s been watching his estranged lover for the last several years.

Akira never married. Akira has had dates here and there, but none developed into a new relationship. Akira hasn’t found a new bed partner, and he hasn’t strived to find a step-father or mother for his twins Kurusu Kagami and Aigami.

Kurusu Akira never moved on from Akechi Goro; at one point he had thought to give the twins Goro’s surname, as another way to keep his memory alive only to decide against so at the last minute.

But he did go with the names they had decided on for children. Kagami and Aigami, precious and unique. Much like Akira himself.

Both names ended with an i, and one started with an a.

“I think it’s unfair to tell you anything about him if I don’t know who you are,” Kagami reasoned, crossing her arms over her chest. “Ai’s right; we’re not supposed to talk to strangers, even if said stranger helped us. Give and take, not give and give.”

Stubborn and unwilling to give information so easily. If they weren’t his, Akechi’s blood would be boiling.

“Very well then, give and take as you said. You are Kurusu Kagami and Kurusu Aigami, and your dad’s name is Akira. How I know him is due to being close acquaintances when we were your age; one could say we were rivals,” the man in the beige coat began, stifling a laugh as he held out his hand to Kagami in good nature. “We were rivals indeed, very special rivals. Kagami, Aigami, it’s nice to finally meet you. I am Akechi Goro.”

“A...Akechi Goro?”

“You bastard…!”

* * *

“Why don’t we give him a chance?”

“Because he walked out on Dad and us eighteen years ago! Why should we give him a chance to explain himself? He chose to deny us the truth before we were even born,” Aigami argued, his cherry-tawny eyes in flames. He wasn’t angry at Kagami, he could truly never be but this topic was driving him mad.

His sister glared in response, “I know he left us, I know he broke Dad’s heart but he’s here now! He’s here now, Aigami! Here with us, wanting to get to know us; you saw the way he looked at Dad, he still loves him.”

“So what if he does? That doesn’t promise Dad returns his sentiments, and even if he does he deserves better than reliving what happened! Ami, you were little so you don’t know but Dad went through hell. He cried every night, he couldn’t sleep or eat! He was dying on the inside; I would see him a mess, even if he didn’t know I was there I saw it.” Aigami ran his fingers through his hair, taking in a shaky breath. “Seeing Dad in tears, sometimes yelling and punching things...I don’t want that again.”

“But Akechi Goro’s our father too-”

“He’s not my father!” Aigami roared, and sent his fist crashing into the nearest wall. Kagami let out a yell and scrambled to her feet, as blood started to ooze from cuts across his knuckles.

“Aigami!”

“He’s not my father, Kagami. He’s not, a father isn’t who brings you into the world but who protects you. Fathers care, fathers protect, fathers guide and he’s done none of those things! H-he’s not my father…”

“Then am I not your sister?” Kagami asked, causing Aigami to scowl.

“Don’t play that card with me, Sweet Sister.”

“It’s a reasonable thing to ask, Big Brother. If he’s not your father, am I also not your sister? Because the law says we’re only Dad’s, that Akechi Goro has no say in who we are. But I see him as my father. I want to see him as my father,” Kagami’s stance was firm, unwavering like a hurricane. “I’ve always wanted for us to have a dad and a father, for us to be a family. It’s something I’ve always hoped for: his return, and for him to tell us why he left. I know this isn’t easy but if he came back it’s because he wanted to. He wanted Dad back, us back. You’re my brother, I’m your sister and he’s our father. Like it or not, that’s who he is and I want to meet him. And I’ll do it, with or without you but I’d like it to be with you.”

“Kagami, are you making me choose between you and him?”

“I’m asking you to choose both of us. Please…”

Aigami gritted his teeth, cherry-tawny eyes slightly wet with tears. He ducked his head and took a deep breath, shoulders no longer shaking. He didn’t say anything out loud, but soon held his injured hand out to Kagami.

The ravenette kissed her brother’s cheeks before running to the bathroom for the first aid kit, heart pounding.

* * *

“Kagami looks so peaceful asleep…” Akechi’s tone was soft, softer than what most expected of him. It wasn’t the same softness he used to use in front of cameras, during interviews. That softness was fabricated, all a sham to present an amicable, warm personality to this disgusting, twisted world. The world that he still despised, still wanted to burn to ashes and relish in the black smoke colliding with a red sky.

But his daughter...his little Kagami, despite being seventeen going on eighteen, lived in this world. His son Aigami lived in this world too, both depended on the sun for warmth and water to drink. Both had friends, family that would surely fall apart if the end was nigh. If the world ceased to turn tomorrow, Kagami could lose Aigami or vice-versa. And that would spell end for the twin left behind.

Akira once commented that he didn’t fear death taking him prematurely from his twins. He didn’t want it of course; what parent, what person, wants to stop breathing? Stop feeling the wind in their face or the earth below their feet? No one. Not even the most cynical of individuals wanted to die. That is the most common human fear: mortality and its implications.

But he did fear the thought of Kagami and Aigami losing each other. The twins were close, very close. If Kagami was the sun, Aigami was the moon. If Kagami was the rain, Aigami was the wind. If one ceased to exist, the other would slowly lose the want to live until they could not remain standing any longer. Call it codependent. Call it unhealthy.

But for Akechi, that was true love. Unconditional, unbreakable, pure love.

Like the love Akira gave him…

“She’s always beautiful,” Aigami mumbled, too tired to pick yet another fight with the older man. He let a sweet smile slip as he brushed a stray, unruly raven curl from his sister’s face, laughing quietly when she just nuzzled more into his lap. “I remember, when we were kids she was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. She couldn’t stand the sight of them, couldn’t stand the sounds. It made her feel as if the world was ending.”

“That’s understandable.” On another child that fear would be pathetic in Akechi’s eyes, a sign of weakness.

But his Kagami was perfect, Aigami was perfect. Their fears didn’t make them weak. They made them human.

“What did you do? To soothe her worries,” Akechi mused, looking into eyes that resembled his own eerily.

Aigami was biologically Akira’s, yet anyone would assume he had Akechi Goro’s blood running through his veins. Apart from the flaws the older man possessed, because his son was better than him. A better man, a better soul, a better heart.

“I would let her borrow my headphones, a gift from Uncle Minato,” Aigami’s expression was thoughtful, as he recalled those difficult nights. “I would play her white noise, and I would give her one of my favorite scarves to cover her eyes. They always smell like coffee, which comforts her. Then Dad would let us sleep in his room; we’d make a sheet fort, do shadow puppetry, drink hot chocolate and tell stories until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. It would always make us feel better; it reminded us that the world isn’t so scary all the time.”

“Your dad always had that talent,” Akechi felt tears burn the corners of his eyes yet resisted, gloved hands folded over his lap. “Even when it seems like nothing good exists, that all of this is just a cesspool we’re forced to play in...he reminded me that there is something worth breathing for. Worth opening your eyes for. I thought he was stupid, and he can be sometimes even now,” he let out a short laugh, and he’d be lying if he denied seeing Aigami’s smile broaden didn’t warm his heart. “But he always found a way. He always found a way to make someone feel safe, valued...cherished.”

“Dad taught me to always cherish and protect Kagami, and her to do the same for me. I’ve always felt out of place; my mind is wired differently, I don’t always know how to talk to people. I have to put on a smile, be polite when in actuality I rather be distant. You can’t really trust anyone...but I trust her a hundred percent.”

Kagami shivered slightly. Aigami shrugged off his school blazer and pulled it over her shoulders. The ravenette ceased shivering almost immediately, the lines in her forehead smoothing out.

“Kagami is all I have apart from Dad, if I were to lose her...it would spell the end for me. Ha, I feel if she didn’t exist I would be a vastly different person. Bitter, unable to let go of grudges, and I would despise everything about me. But with her, I feel like I am someone. That these thoughts, these demons in my head don’t have to win. Maybe it’s unhealthy; I don’t know, but what I do know is that I would do anything to protect my sister. I would do anything to protect my dad.”

“...”

“I don’t know what the future holds for us. Despite your attempts to befriend us, and you have tried and that is very admirable of you, you still left us. You still broke Dad’s heart and robbed Kagami of a father. I’ve had to be the man of the house when Dad couldn’t, I had to learn at a young age responsibility and resilience.”

“...”

“And I thank you for that, Akechi-san.” Aigami’s words surprised the brunette, as made clear by his widening eyes. Aigami’s own cherry-tawny gaze, strikingly identical to Akechi’s, held him in a steady grip. “The world can be a dark and scary place, and it eats those unprepared alive. If I had not learned responsibility and resilience when I did, who knows where we would be now? You are still a stranger to me, I still see you as the man who hurt my dad so much...but you are still Kagami’s father. You are still my father; I can’t keep acting as if this isn’t true.”

“I understand,” Akechi nodded, his throat tight. How hard it was to see such anger in his own child’s eyes…

And this was coming from Akechi Goro, who hid his immense hatred of his own father behind a happy, chipper deposition and briefcase packed with lies.

“If Kagami can learn to love you, then so can I. I will say this though: you leave her, you leave Dad again and you’re dead to me. If I have to put a bullet in your head to ensure their happiness and mental well-being I will, I will do anything. You will be nothing to me if you choose to abandon them again; I never forget, and after a point I stop forgiving.”

“...You are a beauty, Aigami.”

The younger male’s smile broadened just a tad more. Despite the walls still surrounding, guarding, his innermost thoughts and feelings, this smile was warmer than before. “It runs in the family, Akechi-san.” He looked down at Kagami, then an idea came. With practiced movements, Aigami gently lifted Kagami’s head off his lap. Carefully supporting her neck, shushing softly when she whined, the older of the Kurusu-Akechi twins instructed Goro how to handle this. To stay perfectly still until Kagami’s head was cradled in his lap, to gently card his gloved fingers through her short, messy bob of black hair, and give her his hand if she curled up like a kitten.

Akechi’s heart was pounding very fast and hard, threatening to leave an indentation against his ribs and he gave not a single damn. The tears he had fought to contain finally spilled free, silent down his cheeks. Aigami noticed them but didn’t comment, returning his gaze to his sister.

Kagami purred in her sleep, pressing her face against Akechi’s palm.

“She’s the true beauty here…” Aigami said in soft yet clear admiration.

“Both of you are,” Akechi corrected gently, seeing Akira lean against the doorframe from the corner of his eye. “As you said, it runs in the family.”


End file.
